OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY CORVALLIS, OREGON 97331
The Daily Barometer
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WEDNESDAY JANUARY 14, 2015 VOL. CXVII, NO. 53
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After many struggles with Snell Hall, Counseling and Psychological Services office renovations approved By Kat Kothen
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When he heard about the conditions of Counseling and Psychological Services Snell Hall offices last fall, Trevor Byrd, an Associated Students of Oregon State University senator and a junior in political science, was shocked. “We were all kind of surprised that an office on campus would be in such a state of disrepair,” Byrd said. Marcey Bamba, the interim director of CAPS, spoke to the ASOSU Senate at the suggestion of the CAPS Advisory Board, a group of students in charge of approving budgets and decisions made for CAPS. Bamba spoke to them to try to garner some support for CAPS, because at the time she felt “stuck.” Byrd said he felt he had to bring attention to the problems plaguing CAPS. In the end, he decided writing a letter to the university would be the best way to get the story heard. “When I wrote the paper, I entitled it ‘Why OSU Doesn’t Care About Your Mental Health’ because honestly, as a student, that’s the message (the state of CAPS’ offices) sends,” Byrd said. “I personally believe, and I think a lot of people at ASOSU believe, that mental health is a central component Graphic by Eric Winkler
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See CAPS | page 4
Collaborative research on ocean acidification benefits Oregon n
Concerted effort to improve bivalve health in Oregon has led to breakthrough findings By Justin Frost
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George Waldbusser, an assistant professor in the College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, found his interest in the ocean and environment years ago as an undergraduate at St. John’s University in New York. “I worked on oyster recruitment as part of an effort to restore habitat around New York City,” Waldbusser said. “I ended up being a teacher’s assistant for a field course, and one of the people in the course didn’t know that Manhattan, where we were going to school, was an island. That was pretty astounding.” Scientists and researchers often struggle to accurately convey their research findings to the public due to misinterpretation from both the press and the public. Now, as a professor, Waldbusser and his colleagues aim to improve public understanding of the environment and the role that oceanic organisms play in its maintenance. They also strive to solve issues plaguing various industries in Oregon and around the world. In the past few years, shellfish hatcheries in Oregon have seen declining productivity from the shellfish populations. For answers, they reached out to researchers at Oregon State University. “What is amazing about this project is that the shellfish hatcheries reached
out to the scientists at Oregon State in order to understand why their production numbers were falling,” said Iria Gimenez, a graduate student in Ocean, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. “Our work was being done for Oregon’s coastal community and ended up leading us to breakthrough findings regarding ocean acidification.” These findings have directly impacted the economy of Oregon, as bivalves (such as oysters) clean water and provide habitat and food for many species in the ocean, not to mention humans. There has been extensive public interest in the role ocean acidification plays in bivalve health in the northwest, according to Waldbusser. He is currently a collaborator in a National Science Foundation-funded study of the role bivalve health plays in northwest culture, community and economy. “Many tribes and many rural populations rely on shellfish production to create jobs,” Waldbusser said. “Ocean acidification affects the larvae of the shellfish by preventing proper development of their shell. We found that this was contributing to declining production of shellfish.” The chemistry behind this issue was difficult to decode at first, so Waldbusser collaborated with Burke Hales, a professor in the College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences with a strong background in chemistry as well as geology. “What we found in this study is that as carbon dioxide levels rise in the atmosphere, they rise in the ocean,” Hales said. “This forms carbonic acid, See OCEAN | page 2
Meghan Vandewettering
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Socratic club faculty adviser Gary Ferngren (left) and Socratic club President Braden Anderton (right) help promote the ideals of the Socratic club, such as debate and dialogue on topics in religion and philosophy.
Up for debate: Socratic club challenges beliefs Socratic club challenges people to debate, discuss major questions in religion, philosophy
that Anderton remembers vividly. “Both speakers understood each other,” Anderton said. “Because of this, you really got to the heart of the matter: Can we trust that our thoughts and what we perceive By Meghan Vandewettering about the external world really correlate with that the THE DAILY BAROMETER world is actually like?” Can individuals believe that their perception is truth? Braden Anderton, president of Oregon State University Did Jesus of Nazareth claim to be God? How can people Socratic club, reclined in his armchair and recalled a recent Socratic club event: “Does Absolute Truth exist, understand Christian Hell and the love of God? Was the resurrection of Jesus recorded fact or a narrative of faith? and does it matter?” When OSU Professor of History Gary Ferngren foundThe debate the club hosted on campus between See SOCRATIC | page 3 Michael Gurney and Michael Patton in November is one n
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Column: Faults with Obama’s free community college plan
Sports, page 5
Forum, page 7